Maharashtra: MVA Finalises Seat-Sharing For LS Polls, Shiv Sena-UBT Gets 21 Seats

Shiv Sena Uddhav (UBT) faction will be contesting elections on 21 seats in Maharashtra, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar) will contest elections on 10 seats while Congress will fight the polls on 17 seats.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest in the country after Uttar Pradesh which has 80.

Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20 and votes will be counted on June 4.

This seat-sharing announcement comes amid reports that the MVA parties were unable to reach consensus on three seats - Sangli, Bhiwandi and Mumbai South Central.

The state leadership of the Congress was reportedly miffed as Uddhav Thackeray, without consulting with the party, announced Chandrahar Patil as the Sangli candidate. Since the last two elections, the Congress has been losing this seat to BJP despite it being their traditional turf.

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In Bhiwandi, the Sharad Pawar faction announced their candidate even though the Congress wanted to contest from the seat. The Congress, meanwhile, fielded a strong candidate for Mumbai South Central and, according to reports, wanted Shiv Sena UBT to give the seat to them but the latter has given the ticket to Anil Desai.

With the seat-sharing announcement, the Congress has now given up its claim on the contentious Sangli and Bhiwandi seats, which will now be contested by the Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP), respectively. The Mumbai South Central seat has gone to Shiv Sena (UBT).

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As part of the deal, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has got: Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nashik, Palghar, Kalyan, Thane, Raigad, Maval, Osmanabad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Buldhana, Hathkanangkale, Aurangabad, Shirdi, Sangli, Hingoli, Yavatmal-Washim, Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North West and Mumbai North East seats.

The Congress has got: Nandurbar, Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North, Pune, Latur, Solapur, Kolhapur and Ramtek seats.

The NCP(SP) will contest: Baramati, Shirur, Satara, Bhiwandi, Dindori, Madha, Raver, Wardhan, Ahmednagar South and Beed seats.